 |
| Brief International |
Saturday, 5 May 2012
Brief International
A package arrives...
I have a pretty good idea what's inside this box and, if I'm not mistaken, it's going to be the focus of a detailed review as soon as I find a a few free hours to do the job right. I'm really looking forward to this!
Sunday, 29 April 2012
Black Matrix tubes all the way
Today I upgraded my modified Blaupunkt IS 70-33 VTN with a Black Matrix Philips tube. Everything went according to plan (swapped yoke, aligned image, adjusted Focus and Screen controls, etc.) and the end result is very nice indeed!
This TV only has two niggles. There is a very slight "shimmering" in the bottom left corner. Most Grundig TVs I've tried exhibit this problem. Also, the corners aren't as sharp focus as some of the Loewes and Sonys I've seen. If those two issues weren't present, I'd end this ongoing SCART hunt right now. It looks that good!
In other news, I ditched a car load of parts today. Now that I figured out how to upgrade my analogue Grundig boards to the Black Matrix tubes, a whole bunch of stuff that I've hung onto "just in case" really didn't seem necessary any more.
Totally spent after lifting a pile of 26 inch tubes down the stairs, into the car and then into the ditch at the rubbish dump. Phew! Almost time to sit back an enjoy playing some games, I reckon...
This TV only has two niggles. There is a very slight "shimmering" in the bottom left corner. Most Grundig TVs I've tried exhibit this problem. Also, the corners aren't as sharp focus as some of the Loewes and Sonys I've seen. If those two issues weren't present, I'd end this ongoing SCART hunt right now. It looks that good!
 |
| Analogue chassis, black matrix tube, native resolution & refresh rate. Lovely! |
In other news, I ditched a car load of parts today. Now that I figured out how to upgrade my analogue Grundig boards to the Black Matrix tubes, a whole bunch of stuff that I've hung onto "just in case" really didn't seem necessary any more.
Totally spent after lifting a pile of 26 inch tubes down the stairs, into the car and then into the ditch at the rubbish dump. Phew! Almost time to sit back an enjoy playing some games, I reckon...
 |
| Tubes, degauss coils, sawn up cases... ugh! |
Saturday, 28 April 2012
Old yoke, fresh tube
I've been wanting to try this for weeks now: transfer an old Philips yoke onto a new "black matrix" Philips tube. I love the look of the black matrix tubes but whenever I try to hook up older Grundig boards the image is too wide and the geometry is distorted. I figured that a full yoke swap might fix those issues...
I finally gave it a try today and it worked perfectly!
I used the Philips 28GR5775/30B (chassis G110) that I found recently as a guinea pig. The tube (A66EAK51X03) on that is an older type that looks quite grey. Contrast is nothing compared to the tubes used in brands like Loewe. So, I used a knife to slice through the silicon that holds the yoke steady and I unscrewed the clamp on the neck. The yoke slid straight off and I put it onto a newer tube (A66EAK71X01) that I kept from a non-working Blaupunkt. Fired it up... wow! So much more contrast and the colours were vivid. While the yoke was loose, I rotated it to line the picture up perfectly with the top of the shadow mask. Very cool.
Next, I tried the same trick on a black matrix Philips tube (A66EAK071X01) from a Loewe CT1170 television. After playing with the Screen and Focus pots I got the image looking superb. With this 1989 chassis and Philips tube circa 2000 I've got another great looking MAME TV! The Philips actually has a trimpot for vertical size and horizontal hold. I can resize for Street Fighter 2 (224 lines) and Mortal Kombat (256 lines) without any problems. Nice! Haven't nutted out the service menu yet. Either need better batteries for the original remote or the terminals need cleaning. There's some slight pincushion that prevents the image from being classed as perfect.
Can't wait to upgrade my customised Blaupunkt to a black matrix tube!
I finally gave it a try today and it worked perfectly!
I used the Philips 28GR5775/30B (chassis G110) that I found recently as a guinea pig. The tube (A66EAK51X03) on that is an older type that looks quite grey. Contrast is nothing compared to the tubes used in brands like Loewe. So, I used a knife to slice through the silicon that holds the yoke steady and I unscrewed the clamp on the neck. The yoke slid straight off and I put it onto a newer tube (A66EAK71X01) that I kept from a non-working Blaupunkt. Fired it up... wow! So much more contrast and the colours were vivid. While the yoke was loose, I rotated it to line the picture up perfectly with the top of the shadow mask. Very cool.
Next, I tried the same trick on a black matrix Philips tube (A66EAK071X01) from a Loewe CT1170 television. After playing with the Screen and Focus pots I got the image looking superb. With this 1989 chassis and Philips tube circa 2000 I've got another great looking MAME TV! The Philips actually has a trimpot for vertical size and horizontal hold. I can resize for Street Fighter 2 (224 lines) and Mortal Kombat (256 lines) without any problems. Nice! Haven't nutted out the service menu yet. Either need better batteries for the original remote or the terminals need cleaning. There's some slight pincushion that prevents the image from being classed as perfect.
Can't wait to upgrade my customised Blaupunkt to a black matrix tube!
 |
| Philips G110 chassis in test position (i.e. the floor) |
 |
| GroovyMAME running Willow |
Monday, 23 April 2012
Philips with detachable speakers
While riding my bike to the train station last Monday morning I spotted a retro Philips TV on the curb. I made a mental note of where it was and picked it up in the car that night after work. Turned out to be in great condition with hardly a mark on the casing and the remote sitting neatly by its side. Nice! The only downer was that some scum bag had come along and snipped the power cord and also the speaker extension cables (this TV has a cool detachable speaker system). Grr! I hate these copper recyclers!
Tonight I got around to pulling the back casing off and attaching a new power cable. Fingers crossed as I powered on... static on the screen, check... press the channel button... green led, check... picture? Check!
The chassis is super clean (looks just like new) and the picture is quite good. It's an older style Philips tube but the focus is still very good. Colours are less vivid than the later Black Matrix tubes. Perhaps a tube swap in the future? We'll see...
I'll need to find out the code for the Service Menu (some pincushion effect present) but the signs are good for this TV! Smooth picture that's well suited to retro arcade games. Very stable image.
Looking forward to spending some more time with this one as Philips is a brand I'm not very familiar with in terms of SCART gaming. I've ticked off Grundig, Sony, Loewe on my journey and Philips has been an obvious omission. More photos to come after I spend some time tuning this one up...
Tonight I got around to pulling the back casing off and attaching a new power cable. Fingers crossed as I powered on... static on the screen, check... press the channel button... green led, check... picture? Check!
The chassis is super clean (looks just like new) and the picture is quite good. It's an older style Philips tube but the focus is still very good. Colours are less vivid than the later Black Matrix tubes. Perhaps a tube swap in the future? We'll see...
I'll need to find out the code for the Service Menu (some pincushion effect present) but the signs are good for this TV! Smooth picture that's well suited to retro arcade games. Very stable image.
Looking forward to spending some more time with this one as Philips is a brand I'm not very familiar with in terms of SCART gaming. I've ticked off Grundig, Sony, Loewe on my journey and Philips has been an obvious omission. More photos to come after I spend some time tuning this one up...
 |
| Philips 28GR5775/30B (Made in Belgium) |
 |
| Philips A66EAK51X03 tube (Made in France) |
 |
| Strider |
 |
| Cabal |
 |
| Altered Beast |
Sunday, 22 April 2012
The Loewe C9003 does 256 lines
Over the past weekend I found the time to revive a Loewe C9003 chassis that I had stored in a cardboard box. It needed a new power switch and I managed to salvage an identical replacement from a non-working Grundig CUC 2030 chassis that I found on Good Friday. The new power switch did the trick and chassis came to life!
This is the oldest Loewe chassis I've tried. The main menu system looks very different although the Service Menu is very similar to the E3000. The picture quality is very good. Quite a "classic" image. Less modern looking than the E3000 and none of the silly image artefacts that appeared on the later chassis types.
The best news is that the C9003 will happily display 256 lines (hello R-Type and Mortal Kombat!) The E3000 fails in this regard. So, the C9003 is now the Loewe chassis to look out for...
This is the oldest Loewe chassis I've tried. The main menu system looks very different although the Service Menu is very similar to the E3000. The picture quality is very good. Quite a "classic" image. Less modern looking than the E3000 and none of the silly image artefacts that appeared on the later chassis types.
The best news is that the C9003 will happily display 256 lines (hello R-Type and Mortal Kombat!) The E3000 fails in this regard. So, the C9003 is now the Loewe chassis to look out for...
 |
| Loewe C9003 showing 256 vertical lines |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)